Unit Entitlements Explained: Why Your Strata Levies May Be Higher Than Your Neighbour's

One of the quickest ways to start a strata argument is to compare levy notices in the lift.

Someone in a smaller apartment pays less. Someone with the same number of bedrooms pays more. A ground-floor owner says they never use the lift. A top-floor owner says the courtyard lots are getting a free ride. A shop owner says the residential lobby has nothing to do with them. Everyone suspects the split is unfair.

Sometimes it is. More often, the building is applying an old set of numbers that most owners have never read.

Those numbers are usually called unit entitlements, lot entitlements, lot liabilities, contribution schedule lot entitlements or something similar, depending on the state. They sit inside the registered strata plan, community management statement, owners corporation plan or equivalent scheme document. They decide how much of the building you own for certain purposes, how much you pay, and sometimes how your vote is counted.

If levies are the bill, entitlements are the formula.

The basic idea

In a strata building, not every lot is treated as equal for every financial purpose.

A larger apartment, penthouse, townhouse, shop, car space lot or better-positioned lot may carry a higher entitlement than a smaller or less valuable lot. The entitlement reflects the legal share assigned to that lot when the scheme was created or later adjusted.

That share can affect:

• Ordinary levies.
• Special levies.
• Capital works contributions.
• Voting power for certain resolutions.
• Ownership share in common property.
• Distribution of money if the scheme is sold or terminated.

The exact effect depends on your state and scheme documents. NSW commonly uses unit entitlement. Queensland uses contribution schedule and interest schedule lot entitlements. Victoria separates concepts such as lot entitlement and lot liability. The labels matter, but the practical question is the same: which number is being used to split this cost or count this vote?

Why equal-looking apartments can pay different levies

Two lots can look similar to a casual owner and still have different entitlements.

The original valuer or developer may have considered:

• Internal floor area.
• Balcony, courtyard or terrace area.
• Car spaces and storage.
• Views.
• Floor level.
• Aspect.
• Commercial value.
• Access to facilities.
• Intended use.
• Market value at the time the plan was registered.

That does not mean the number is perfect. It means the levy split is usually tied to a registered schedule, not to how fair the current owners feel it is.

The result can be awkward. A courtyard owner may pay more because the courtyard increased lot value, even if the courtyard also creates maintenance issues. A penthouse owner may pay more for the same insurance policy. A ground-floor owner may contribute to lift costs even if they rarely use the lift, because the lift is common property and the registered contribution method does not split it by personal use.

Strata is not a pay-per-use building. It is a shared legal structure.

How to find your entitlement

Start with the registered plan and scheme documents.

Depending on your state, ask for:

• The strata plan or survey-strata plan.
• The schedule of unit entitlements.
• The community management statement.
• The plan of subdivision.
• The owners corporation schedule of lot entitlement and lot liability.
• The contribution schedule and interest schedule.
• Any by-laws or rules that alter responsibility for specific costs.

You can usually get these from the strata manager, secretary, committee records, state land titles office, conveyancer documents from purchase, or a strata records inspection.

Then compare three things:

1. Your entitlement.
2. The total entitlement for the scheme.
3. The budget amount being raised.

The formula is usually your entitlement divided by the total entitlement, multiplied by the amount being raised. State rules and scheme documents can change the detail, but that is the core logic.

A simple example

Imagine a building with four lots and total unit entitlement of 100.

Lot 4 pays more because its entitlement is higher. That might be because it is larger, has more outdoor space, has better views, or was assessed as more valuable when the plan was created.

Owners often ask why Lot 4 should pay more for the same cleaner or insurance broker. The answer is that levies are not usually split by individual consumption. They are split by the legal contribution schedule unless a different rule applies.

That can be frustrating, but it is not automatically wrong.

Entitlements and special levies

Special levies usually follow the same contribution logic as ordinary levies, unless the law or scheme documents say otherwise.

That means a $200,000 facade levy may not be split equally by lot. It may be split by entitlement. Owners with higher entitlements carry a larger share.

Before voting on a special levy, owners should check:

• Which entitlement schedule is being used.
• Whether the lot-by-lot schedule matches the registered documents.
• Whether any exclusive-use by-law changes the cost allocation.
• Whether the cost relates to only part of a layered or staged scheme.
• Whether the motion explains the contribution basis.

This is not a small detail. On a large special levy, a one or two per cent difference can mean thousands of dollars.

Entitlements and voting

Voting is where owners get caught.

Some decisions are counted one lot, one vote. Others may use unit entitlement or a poll. Special resolutions, sustainability infrastructure resolutions, accessibility infrastructure resolutions and other state-specific decisions may use different thresholds.

In NSW, government guidance explains that ordinary resolutions use one vote per property, while special resolutions use unit entitlement. A voter can also call for a poll, which changes a general resolution vote so it uses unit entitlement rather than one vote per lot.

That means a meeting can feel like it has two democracies running at once. On one question, every lot may count equally. On another, the legal weight of each lot matters.

If an issue is close, understand the voting method before the meeting. A motion that appears to have majority support by headcount may fail once entitlement is counted. The reverse can also happen.

The fairness problem

Owners often raise fairness in three situations.

The first is perceived overpayment. "I pay more but use the same hallway."

The second is perceived underpayment. "The penthouse gets more value but does not pay enough."

The third is service mismatch. "I pay for a lift, pool, garden, car park or driveway I do not use."

These concerns are not silly. They are part of strata life. But fairness in strata is filtered through registered documents and legislation. Personal use is not always the test. Market value at registration may matter more. In some states, different schedules separate ownership interest from contribution liability. In some schemes, special by-laws allocate certain costs to certain lots. In layered schemes, costs can sit at different levels.

So the first question is not "is this fair?" The first question is "what does the registered scheme say?"

Only after you know that can you decide whether the document itself may be wrong, outdated or worth challenging.

Can entitlements be changed?

Sometimes, yes. But it is not a casual committee decision.

Changing entitlements can affect every owner's levies, voting weight and property value. It may require specialist valuation evidence, owner resolutions, land titles registration, tribunal or court orders, or state-specific statutory processes. In some cases it may be practically impossible unless the numbers are plainly wrong or the required level of owner support exists.

Reasons owners might investigate a change include:

• A historical error in the schedule.
• A redevelopment or subdivision.
• A lot consolidation or split.
• A change in use, such as commercial to residential.
• Evidence that the original allocation was unreasonable under the applicable law.
• A scheme structure that no longer matches how costs are incurred.

Do not assume unfairness is enough. You need a process, evidence and advice.

What to check before challenging the numbers

Before you spend money on lawyers or valuers, gather the basics.

Many disputes are calculation errors, not entitlement errors. The wrong schedule may have been used. A car space lot may have been included incorrectly. A special levy may have been divided equally when it should not have been, or divided by entitlement when a special rule applied.

Fix the arithmetic before attacking the architecture.

Mixed-use buildings are harder

Mixed-use schemes create sharper entitlement disputes because the building is not one simple residential product.

A ground-floor shop may not use the residential lift. Apartment owners may not benefit from commercial signage. Car park lots may have their own gate, ventilation and lighting costs. A hotel component may use services differently from permanent residents.

Good mixed-use documents separate costs intelligently. Poor ones create permanent resentment.

Owners in mixed-use buildings should ask:

• Are there separate cost centres?
• Are shared services metered or estimated?
• Which lots contribute to which facilities?
• Are commercial and residential insurance impacts separated?
• Does any by-law or management statement allocate costs differently?
• Are contracts written for the whole building or one component?

If the answer is "we have always split it this way", that is not enough. It may still be correct, but owners should be able to see why.

How committees should explain entitlements

Committees can prevent a lot of anger by showing the calculation clearly.

Every levy notice or budget pack should make it easy to understand:

• The total budget being raised.
• The contribution schedule used.
• The total entitlement.
• The lot entitlement.
• The owner's percentage share.
• Any fixed charges or separate cost allocations.
• Whether the levy is ordinary or special.

For major special levies, include a lot-by-lot schedule. Owners will calculate it anyway. Better that everyone works from the same table.

The committee should also keep the registered documents somewhere accessible. If owners have to fight to find the schedule that determines their bill, distrust is predictable.

How UnitBuddy can help owners follow the money

Entitlement disputes are easier to manage when the building keeps a clean record of each decision and each calculation.

For a special levy, a committee should be able to attach the motion, budget, entitlement schedule, levy notice, owner-by-owner allocation, invoice trail and payment record to the same item. For ordinary levies, owners should be able to see the approved budget, fund split and calculation method without digging through old email chains.

That is the difference between "trust us" and "here is the record".

Owners do not need more mystery around levies. They need the formula, the documents and the trail.

Common mistakes owners make

The first mistake is comparing only bedrooms. Two two-bedroom apartments can have different areas, car spaces, balconies, storage, views and entitlements.

The second mistake is assuming non-use means non-payment. You may still contribute to common property you rarely use.

The third mistake is using the manager portal as the source of truth. Portals can contain summaries. The registered plan and scheme documents matter more.

The fourth mistake is waiting until a special levy is due. Entitlement questions are easier before the vote, not after notices have been issued.

The fifth mistake is treating fairness as self-evident. If you want a change, build the evidence.

The bottom line

Your strata levies are not just a bill. They are the output of a legal formula.

If your neighbour pays less, the reason should be visible in the scheme documents. If the reason is not visible, ask for the documents. If the documents do not match the calculation, ask for a correction. If the documents themselves look wrong, get advice before turning it into a fight.

The most useful owner in this conversation is not the loudest one. It is the one who can point to the plan, the schedule, the motion and the number that does not line up.

A worked split

A 12-lot building has 1,200 unit entitlements. Lot 5 has 80. Lot 12, a larger top-floor apartment, has 160.

The AGM strikes $180,000 in ordinary levies. Lot 5 pays 80 / 1,200 = 6.67%, or $12,000. Lot 12 pays 13.33%, or $24,000. Same building, same insurance policy, same lift.

A later $90,000 special levy for the roof uses the same fraction unless the motion lawfully uses another schedule. Lot 5: $6,000. Lot 12: $12,000. Arguing that Lot 5 "never uses the lift" does not change either number. Changing the number means changing the registered schedule, which is a formal process with a valuer, a vote and, usually, a cost that exceeds one year's difference.

Do this arithmetic on your own notice. Total levy × (your entitlement ÷ aggregate entitlement). If the notice does not match, ask for the working before you pay under protest or start a dispute.

What can be changed, and what cannot

Entitlements are not a committee preference. They are on the registered plan or scheme document.

A committee cannot "just split insurance equally" because a meeting felt like it, unless the Act and the documents allow a different allocation and the right resolution is passed. Informal deals — "the shops won't pay for the lift" — collapse when a new owner arrives or a special levy lands.

Changing a schedule is possible in every state, but it is slow. Typically you need:

• A reason the original allocation is wrong now, not merely unpopular
• An independent valuation or the statutory process for your state
• The correct resolution threshold
• Registration of the change

Queensland's contribution schedule and interest schedule can be changed through the processes in the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997. NSW unit entitlements can be reallocated in defined circumstances under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, including where they were unreasonable at the time or have become unreasonable. Victoria's Owners Corporations Act 2006 separates lot entitlement (often voting and ownership share) from lot liability (often contributions). Using the wrong column is a common way to start a fight you cannot win.

Get advice before you campaign to "fix the penthouse". Many challenges fail because the original valuer's judgement, even if imperfect, was not unlawful.

Voting is not always the same number

Ordinary business may be one vote per lot. A poll, a special resolution or a resolution without dissent may switch to entitlements. Your levy share and your voting power can therefore differ.

That matters when a small number of high-entitlement lots can pass or block a special resolution even if most people in the room disagree. It also matters in developer-controlled buildings: original-owner vote reductions apply to voting value, not to how much they pay.

If you appoint a proxy, say how they should vote on a show of hands and on a poll. A directed "no" on the hands vote does not automatically lock a poll if the form is silent.

Car spaces, storage and utility lots

A car space with its own lot number has its own entitlement, even if you think of it as "part of unit 8". Two owners with similar apartments can pay different totals because one owns two car lots and a storage cage.

Utility lots and parking lots are sometimes excluded when a state counts lots for other rules (for example NSW "large scheme" tests). They are not automatically excluded from the levy schedule. Read the plan. Do not assume a $400 storage cage pays nothing toward insurance.

If you are buying, add the entitlements of every lot in the contract — apartment, car, storage — before you compare "levies" with the listing next door.

When the notice does not match the plan

Ask the manager for the working file: aggregate entitlements, your lots, the total being raised, and the percentage. A $12 rounding difference is software. A 15% difference is the wrong lot, a stale schedule, or a special levy allocated "evenly" when the plan does not allow it.

Pay the undisputed amount if you must stay financial, and write that the balance is disputed. Withholding the whole quarter to argue 80 versus 88 entitlements is how you lose your vote on everything else.

If several lots are wrong in the same direction, the registered schedule and the manager's database have diverged. That is a scheme-wide correction, not a one-owner complaint. Put a motion on the agenda requiring a reconciliation against the registered plan before the next levy run.

When you sell, the same schedule is what a buyer's solicitor will test against the levy notice. A mismatch at certificate stage delays settlement. Committees that reconcile once a year, after the AGM budget, prevent that scramble.

If two lots were subdivided or amalgamated and the schedule was never updated, stop guessing. Get the registered plan and a strata lawyer or surveyor to say what the current entitlements are. A manager spreadsheet that still shows the old lot numbers will mis-levy someone every quarter until it is fixed.

Utility and parking lots sometimes carry a token entitlement. That is lawful. It is also why a $90,000 special levy can look "uneven" when someone adds up only the residential doors. Add every lot on the plan, including the cage in the basement.

When a shop and apartments share a scheme, ask which schedule funds the shop awning, the residential lift and the shared fire system. Three different answers can all be right if the documents say so. One blended levy with no note is how the shop owner and the penthouse owner stay angry for a decade.

Keep the scheme file in one place the committee and the manager can both open. Features, pricing, or book a tour.